#absolutely vile and disgusting

[mariacallous]

At the end of January, clips from a film about the housing market in Russian-occupied Mariupol began circulating on TikTok and X (formerly Twitter). After the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian army held Mariupol under siege for 85 days, all the while relentlessly pummeling the city with missile and air strikes. Mariupol was effectively reduced to rubble, and no one knows how many lives were lost — though some estimates place the number as high as 100,000. As soon as the Russian authorities had captured the city, they set about rebuilding it and erasing any trace of war crimes.

The film, titled “Shocking Prices for Apartments in Mariupol — Millions for Ruins” was released in November on the YouTube channel “Mirnyie” (the plural form of “peaceful” in Russian and the first part of “peaceful inhabitants,” a Russian term used to distinguish non-combatants from military personnel in conflict zones). The Mirnyie project is led by “war correspondent” Regina Orekhova, a journalist from the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. In 2022, she received a special award from the Russian Union of Journalists for “courage in fulfilling journalistic duty.”

The Mirnyie project, as one might surmise from its name, explores the lives of ordinary people in the conflict zone. “These are the stories of people who found themselves caught in the crossfire — some left, while others stayed. [We share] their experiences, how they survive, and what they think about,” reads the description. Judging by the channel, Orekhova primarily works in Mariupol. Previous reports of hers cover topics such as Azovstal’s underground tunnels, the sea port, city maternity hospitals, and the drama theater, which was destroyed by a Russian airstrike while an estimated 1,000 civilians were sheltering there.

In the introduction to the half-hour film, Orekhova promises to answer the following questions: “How do you buy an apartment in Mariupol? Is it more profitable to invest in ‘ruins’ that you can resell once renovated? How do you rent commercial space for a business here and how much does it cost? What kinds of apartments are for sale and what determines the price?” Orekhova explains that in Mariupol, there are “damaged buildings” as well as “brand new and renovated ones.” “The real estate market is very unconventional. We’ve studied it in detail and we’ll tell you all about it,” she promises. 

Orekhova speaks with three local realtors who show her properties for sale in different parts of the city. As it turns out, these are mostly half-destroyed apartments, hastily abandoned by residents who left all their personal belongings behind as they fled. However, even such properties, according to the realtors, are in high demand. In some cases, actual ruins, where just parts of the walls survived the bombings, are for sale. However, Russian construction companies will restore these buildings later for free, which significantly increases prices. There’s also the rare property untouched by war, or newly renovated apartments in restored buildings. Prices for these range from four to six million rubles (about $50,000-$66,000). Apartments in historic Stalin-era buildings in the center of Mariupol with surviving inner courtyards (i.e., enclosed parking), renovated entrances, and sea views are considered premium housing.

The film doesn’t explain why or, more importantly, by whom all the housing in Mariupol was destroyed. Realtors talk evasively about “all those events” or “military actions.” Orekhova asks how many real estate agencies are currently operating in Mariupol. “Well, there aren’t many surviving citizens per square meter, you could say, but they exist, of course,” a realtor answers.

Showing a damaged three-room apartment in the center of Mariupol, real estate agent Natalia remarks that “one shouldn’t focus on the consequences of what happened to the apartment but on the apartment’s potential.” There’s no electricity, the ceiling is leaking, and personal belongings, including toys and a highchair, lie strewn about — but the windows have been replaced. Natalia points out the “magnificent view” from the balcony. “These buildings have survived more than one war and, as you can see, are still standing,” Natalia says encouragingly. According to her, it would be too painful for the previous owners to come back and see their home like this, which is why they’re looking to sell the apartment in its current condition.

The realtors say that apartments are mostly bought by newcomers “from big Russia” and bemoan that locals can’t afford newly constructed housing. According to them, Russian authorities introduced a special two percent mortgage rate for people from the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” and “Luhansk People’s Republic” who have Russian citizenship. But locals can’t get approved because most aren’t officially employed — there are no jobs with decent salaries in Mariupol.

Luisa, the head of a real estate management company, explains that it’s virtually impossible for Mariupol residents to get an apartment without Russia’s help. She says they “can’t afford to buy back their old homes in Mariupol or to purchase new ones.” When new construction is put up where their destroyed homes used to be, the mortgage payments are out of reach. Luisa recalls how an apartment building in the center, leveled in the bombings, was cleared away to make room for new construction. Residents were offered housing somewhere on the outskirts as compensation, but they weren’t able to buy apartments in the new building being built on their property, even though they’re legally registered at the address.

Tatiana, another realtor, thinks everything in Mariupol is “getting back on track.” She says people are returning, “even those who didn’t plan to.” “The demand [for apartments] is very high, much higher than the supply,” Tatiana explains. “If an apartment is in poor condition but at a good price, it goes quickly. The interested buyers are mainly newcomers. People from Siberia are also eyeing our seaside breeze.”

Tatiana tells Orekhova that everything is “looking up” for the city:

Mariupol has never experienced such rapid growth. The city is developing before our eyes. It’s happening in such a way that even we don’t know where things will improve tomorrow, where slums will turn into upscale neighborhoods. Because our sky is blue. When I say this, everyone smiles, actually. But before, our sky used to be gray or brown, never blue. And now life is getting better; every cloud has a silver lining. You just don’t want to remember the military operations; you go numb. But when you see what’s happening in Mariupol — everything will be fine, everything will work out.

[fcb-mv33]

That’s v much an interviewer who should be black listed from ever speaking to max,,,calling him fat absolutely vile behavior

via formula1b

[lukosei]

Excuse me while I go cry again

[thesociallyawkwarddreamer]

I’ve been a fan of Ryan and Shane since the unsolved days and followed them onto watcher, and found myself pleasantly surprised by Steven’s content as well. Never in my life have I seen a fandom turn so quickly against the creators it claimed to love, in such a vitriolic, hateful, racist fashion. As a poc myself, it made me queasy to see some tweets calling Steven and Ryan ‘rats’ while absolving Shane of any wrongdoing and blame in the same breath. Some of y’all are vile and, given the nasty outrage, you’d think watcher broke into your house, stole all your money and kidnapped your pet on the way out instead of, idk, overestimating themselves and making a stupid business move.

[sanhatipal]

...

If any of you here are wondering where I've been, I'm a woman and doctor in west bengal that's all you need to find the literal hell I'm in right now

[pixelhotsauce]

Women are perverts y'all...

[dreaminterlude]

trying to practice restraint by not speaking about it but taeyong’s situation specifically has gotten so out of hand seeing the vilest shit being alleged between him and his sister and the swarm of death threats sent directly to him and his family after a random instagram story from half a year ago of a now confirmed censored single volume of a popular anime. extrapolating from a photo he took of some fucking shoes he was gifted saying hes read and promoted eleven volumes of uncensored whatever without fact checking anything/going off hearsay is so insane? and trying to lump all 4/5 idols in the same way without any nuance or even care for victims of these abuses is just irresponsible. i’m not here to justify or speak on the contents of the original anime itself because i haven’t read it but the way misinformation and crazy uncritical mob behavior functions on stan twitter/tumblr without any critical thinking is disgusting and also makes the content of what’s being criticized completely frivolous. it’s disgusting!

[witchofthemidlands]

BAD SISTERS || Chopped Liver

This reads like an incorrect quote but this is, in fact, an actual line from this show in a conversation between the two most serious characters in this series.

[fcb-mv33]

Max talking about what happened in the stewards room meanwhile George is out here calling Max a violent bully knowing that he’s mates in the British media are going to run wild with this is vile imo

[the-lord-of-springs]

[maya-caffrey]

is it just me or has casual racism against desi people become increasingly rampant on social media lately

[fereldanwench]

tfw you're just casually going through poses looking for something sexy and cool and then get hit with ALL THE EMOTIONS

[sunflowerinthekitchen]

"I asked him about the podcast. He’d been doing so much promo, he told me, that he wanted to do something that felt more like simply talking with his friends. But, of course, he had done this all in public, on mike. Had he baited his fans on purpose? “A little bit,” he said. “But it doesn’t actually matter. Nobody is sitting there at night slumped at their computer, and their boyfriend comes over and goes, ‘What’s wrong, darling?’ and they go, ‘It’s just this thing with Matty Healy.’ That doesn’t happen.”

“Maybe it does,” I said.

“If it does,” he said, “you’re either deluded or you are, sorry, a liar. You’re either lying that you are hurt, or you’re a bit mental for being hurt. It’s just people going, ‘Oh, there’s a bad thing over there, let me get as close to it as possible so you can see how good I am.’ And I kind of want them to do that, because they’re demonstrating something so base level.”

let me once again repeat:

FUCK MATTY HEALY

[ashtonsunshine]

via Ashton's instagram stories. 22nd October 2023

[tlozypaka-tina]

.

[avvidstarion]

Ok since the game is leaking I am officially locking tf down and blocking every tag until I finish the game!!!! Love you da moots I’ll see you on the other side 🫡